


512

by OnyxLeopard



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Friendship/Love, Gen, Post-Omnic Crisis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-21
Updated: 2016-12-21
Packaged: 2018-09-10 23:52:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8944354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OnyxLeopard/pseuds/OnyxLeopard
Summary: To most of her colleagues, it was only a number: 512.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Just In time for the holidays, here's a short little story. Hope you all keep safe, and find some happiness this holiday season.

To most of her colleagues, it was only a number: 512. It could have described an exuberant amount of subjects, truly an infinitesimal amount of descriptors for billions of people could the number describe at any given time. But for Aleksandra Zaryanova, 512 was her greatest achievement. It represented years of blood, sweat, the occasional tear, and the burn of success rushing through her body as she gained her title as the strongest woman in the world. It was two-hundred-two kilograms more than the previous women's world record holder, and only thirteen kilos shy of the deadlifting world record. At the moment she was working toward surpassing them.

"Wow, you are really strong."

Zarya looked down at the small Chinese woman next to her: Mei, a little plump woman with a round face and soft temperament. Mei's small chubby frame juxtaposed her tall bulky body so starkly Zarya would have laughed at the little woman pantomiming her lunges if she didn't have to regulate her own breathing.

"Blagodarya," Zarya stated flatly, and returned to staring ahead of her.

Mei continued to follow Zarya's movements as the two women went from a forward lunge to a standing position. Mei did not take her gaze off of the taller woman as the two switched legs and descended back into a lunge. Zarya would never vocalize it, but she always enjoyed these brief moments where the two would cross over into each other's worlds. While in truth Zarya could go much faster working out on her own, she found some joy in watching the smaller woman try to keep up with her.

"Zarya," Mei started, and stopped.

For a moment Mei's face scrunched up in thought, and Zarya could see out of the corner of her eye how the woman was trying to phrase her sentence.

"Whatever made you want to become so strong?"

Her grip tightened on the cowbells she had in her hands, and eyes narrowed on the particular spot she'd been staring at on the far gym wall.

"My family, my village, my home," Zarya felt her legs rejuvenate with newfound energy as she continued her lunges. "Those that I care about; I have watched them all be torn apart by Omnics. I promised that I would become strong to protect them."

Without realizing it, Zarya had begun perform bicep curls while in synchronous motion of her lunges. Eyes shifted into a hardened glare zeroed in on the spot on the matted wall. Her mind was swathed in snow: memory of her first battle in Serbia. She could remember the dull pain in her fist as she punched through an Omnic combat unit. Her knuckles throbbed from the cold and the iron-clad grip she held on her rifle. The eruption of scattered snow as explosions thundered around her, each shot reverberated through her chest. The burning in her arms and shoulders as she ripped her particle cannon from a disabled troop transport vehicle was not unlike lifting the final five-hundred-twelve kilograms above her head. Each herculean task was a chance to prove her strength and use it to protect her country. Her loved ones….

The soft panting beside her pulled Zarya from her revere. Stopping mid-lunge and curl, she finally looked at the Chinese woman next to her whose face was covered in sweat. Zarya stopped and went to a standing position, placing the cowbells she held in each hand to floor. She helped her set her weights down, watching as Mei caught her breath.

"Prosti."

Mei simply chuckled through a labored breath. "That was quite a work out!"

The concerned look on Zarya's face did not waver. "Are you alright? I'm sorry I went so fast."

"No, no, it's alright." Mei's face brightened a little lighter than the dark flush of her cheeks. "After all, 'wǒmen zài yīqǐ shì qiángdà de.'"

Zarya's concerned ebbed into pride, and as Mei looked up at her and smiled, she could not help but return a small smile of her own.

"Yes, we are."

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to give a sincere thanks to Grand Phoenix on Fanfiction.net for beta-reading this story.  
> (1) Благодаря “blagodarya” : Thanks  
> (2) Прости “Prosti” : Sorry  
> (3) 我们在一起是强大的。 “Wǒmen zài yīqǐ shì qiángdà de.” ：Together we are strong.


End file.
